No Way Around but Through – LA Weekly theater review

My theater review this week for the LA Weekly is of No Way Around but Through, written by and co-starring Scott Caan and Melanie Griffith (as his Mom!)

Click here to go to the LA Weekly’s theater page with my review of No Way Around but Through, now playing at the Falcon Theatre in Toluca Lake, and then scroll down a little bit to find it.

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You can just read it here!!

Happy reading!

No Way Around but Through

Swaggering, tough-guy actor Scott Caan has cast himself in his play, which makes perfect sense as all characters, bar one, have the same “voice” — his.

A young couple, played by an overly gesticulating Caan and waiflike Robyn Cohen, are at a crucial crossroads in their new relationship. They spend the entire two-act play agonizing about their problems via convoluted discussion. Their inability to communicate effectively boils down to the dated concept “Men and women are different species.” This also makes for some intense, earnest and funny dialogue exchanges.

Their respective best friends provide excellent foils to the central fractured romance, and are played nicely by Bre Blair and Val Lauren (who also directs the play remarkably well). Caan’s stage mom, Lulu, played by Melanie Griffith, doesn’t appear until Act 2, and hers is a beautifully poised character with a refreshingly unique voice: finally someone who tells it like it is. All skinny limbs and sculpted face, Griffith give a fantastic and restrained performance.